Visitors to Pemberly
by OccasionallyCreative
Summary: A 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' fanfic. Lizzie visits Pemberly, and searches for office space. An unexpected guest arrives. In fact, TWO unexpected guests arrive.
1. Chapter 1

She had thought filming at Collins & Collins had been tricky, but then she had come to Pemberly. The offices were huge; employees were continually moving, a never-ending flurry of limbs and voices. Kind of overwhelming really. Although it was standard practice to see a camera in every other room (maybe studio would be a better term), it wasn't standard practice to see a red-headed girl dressed in a bright blue, wide-brimmed hat and lurid coloured shawl in front of said camera.

Back at home, Lizzie's bedroom had been her office. At Collins & Collins, Charlotte had generously donated her office as workspace. At Netherfield… well, Caroline had been so very helpful. Although she and Caroline vehemently disliked each other, it still kind of hurt Lizzie to think that Caroline's only reasons for being so nice to her and Jane was to bolster her own image, presumably so when Darcy found out about the videos, she'd appear the good guy, and Lizzie would be the appointed bad guy. Yeah, that plan had worked.

Still, it was her first day here at Pemberly. New environment, new faces… so it wasn't worth dwelling on the past. Therefore Lizzie put her thoughts and worries to the back of her mind and with all of her equipment tightly packed into a single bag, she traversed the four floors which made up Pemberly, searching for space. For such a large complex, there was very little space which could be termed 'private'. Almost everything was a mixture of opaque glass, chrome fixtures and leather chairs. TV monitors were fixed to the walls of the corridors, with messages or advertisements for canteen discounts appearing on a loop. Large editing suites swallowed up the whole of the top floor. Lizzie had heard the second floor referred to as the "studio floor". The ground floor was just standard office space, overlooking the car park (something Mr Collins would have definitely approved of). The basement had recently been converted into an archive room. Hearing about this, Lizzie decided to try and take a trip down there when she had the opportunity, as Charlotte would probably love to hear about it, and what they had down there. Of course, that plan was useless if she was unable to find some space.

She was just taking her fourth trip around the first floor when she bumped, quite literally, into someone. This someone happened to be Darcy. Here, at the office, he was much like himself out of the office, only more robotic and stiff (if that were possible). On seeing Lizzie however, he appeared to relax a little, presumably because he didn't have to act like a superior around her. Ever since _that day_, he had always been a little kinder to her, and more tolerant of her family. On seeing her, his lips twitched, forming into a smile.

"Miss Lizzie."

"Darcy," she replied, smiling politely at him, all the while biting back a smart remark. After all, if it hadn't been for his recommendation to Catherine de Bourgh, she wouldn't be here.

"How are you finding Pemberly so far?"

Her brain searched for the right word, but all she could find was:

"Big."

Darcy nodded at this, but said nothing. Lizzie continued the conversation, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

"It's great, just, uh… searching for somewhere to work."

"Are no rooms available?"

"Not from what I can see."

Darcy nodded once again.

"That'll have to be remedied. Follow me."

Before she could say anything, he was off, walking down the hallway. Seeing that she had no other choice, Lizzie followed on.

They came to a stop outside a pair of black wooden double doors. Darcy took out a key and unlocked them, pushing them open and stepping through. A little nervous, Lizzie gingerly stepped forward. Automatically, her mouth hung open. It was an office, but much larger than any she had seen so far today. A wide wooden desk stood in the centre, with a gleaming white Mac standing on it. A large-leather backed chair was behind it, and opposite that chair were two clear plastic ones. A large set of shelves were fixed to the back wall, filled to the brim with reference books. On the left wall hung a series of framed black-and-white photographs. From this distance, their small size rendered the subjects a little unclear, but it appeared to be mostly landscapes and a few portraits. Everything was neatly organised and put away; the only blemish was that a half-eaten sandwich was sitting on the desk, crumbs around it. Lizzie frowned and glanced at Darcy.

"This office is vacant, right?"

Darcy nodded, his gaze fixed on her. However, Lizzie suddenly spotted a tiny spot of mayonnaise on his bottom lip. The realisation quickly struck her that the sandwich lying on the desk was Darcy's, and ergo, this was his office. She thought about thanking him, but knowing Darcy, this would only make the situation that little more awkward. So she simply smiled a little wider at him and moved towards the desk, setting her bag down on the ground and opening it. Darcy meanwhile had turned to go, and seeing him turn away stirred something in Lizzie. 'What the hell,' she thought, and stood up.

"Hey, Darcy."

Instantly, he turned to face her, his hand on the door.

"Miss Lizzie."

"Thanks for letting me use your office. It's… appreciated."

A flicker of a smile appeared on his face, and that was enough to tell her that her thanks were gladly welcomed. He then swiftly departed, the door swinging slightly in his wake. Lizzie sighed and continued setting up. She was just halfway through attaching her camera to her tripod when the door swung open again and Darcy re-entered the room. Lizzie blinked, more than a little surprised. Darcy bowed his head towards her and quickly approached the desk. His intentions still unknown, Lizzie's pulse began to race, though mostly out of worry. Her apprehension was unfounded though, as in one movement, he simply scooped up his half-eaten sandwich and left, only stopping to tell her to keep him (or one of the receptionists) on her progress. When he left, a strange sort of silence overwhelmed the room and Lizzie. It was as if he had left a portion of his awkward self behind. Trying to shake off the feeling, Lizzie turned on the camera and began to speak.

"So, Thanksgiving's been and gone, and we're in a new place!" she said to camera, her tone as bright and amiable as it always was, but something was wrong. Talking about her life… in Darcy's office. It was just, kind of, and well… it was strange. Off-putting. Before she had always been somewhere which was vaguely similar to her, but now she was here, in Pemberly, an uber-powerful media empire. And the only connection she had to it was Darcy, a man she had insulted and ripped into over and over in her videos. She wished Charlotte was here to talk her through it, and offer encouraging words of advice as she always did. Sadly though, she was too busy at Collins and Collins to make the trip. Still, might as well make the most of it.

"My name is Lizzie Bennet, and Pemberly… is kind of overwhelming."

She might as well be honest. That's what her videos were for, in the end. Yet as she talked, the office faded away. Pemberly faded away. All she could focus on was the camera, and pretty soon, she was feeling confident enough to indulge in a spot of costume theatre.

Sadly though, Lizzie had not counted for the fact that Darcy—in his rush to leave her to her work—had failed to lock the door. Therefore, just as Lizzie was re-enacting her encounter with Darcy just 30 minutes before, the door swung open.

"Hi Will… What, who are you?" The visitor was small, thin with blonde—almost golden—long hair, and features similar to Darcy. The most striking similarity was their eyes, Lizzie briefly noticed as in one motion she had pulled the hat from her head, the bow tie from her neck and turned off the camera. She then stood up, blushing furiously. The visitor frowned, and Lizzie noted that their expressions were exactly the same, except the visitor had a certain brightness which Darcy lacked.

"My name's Lizzie Bennet. Darcy, I mean… William, he said I could work in here."

A smile of recognition appeared on the visitor's face.

"Oh, wow. My brother's talked a lot about you."

Lizzie's heart dropped into a bottomless pit of embarrassment and she realised that she was now standing in front of Gigi Darcy, younger sister of William, and that his sister had just walked in on her re-enacting her own brother.

"You're the girl with the video blogs." Gigi's tone had changed now, to a more sullen one.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry for… how did you know about my videos?" Lizzie asked suddenly.

"I caught my brother watching them. He told me about you, and he was quite complimentary."

"I suppose he would be," Lizzie said quietly, her mind drifting back to that day. With Gigi standing in front of her, it made her blush with shame to think of just how vitriolic she had been. It also made her think of Darcy's letter.

"You know, I can see how my brother can get people irritated," Gigi said suddenly, making Lizzie jump slightly. Not noticing this, Gigi continued. "He's kind of stuck in his ways, and he is the most socially awkward turtle ever to grace this planet. However, he's also kind and sweet, so I don't really see what he did to deserve such scorn from you."

"You watched my videos?" Lizzie said quietly. It wasn't a question, nor was it a statement. It was more of an acknowledgement Gigi nodded, moving towards the black-and-white photographs.

"And you're honest… brutally honest. But c'mon, all he did was dance a little awkwardly with you and act a little stand-offish. And lecture you on audio systems, if I remember rightly."

"He called me 'decent enough'," Lizzie remarked, unable to stop herself. It still hurt every time she thought about it.

"Yeah… I apologise on his behalf for that. The thing is about my brother, he can't acknowledge people's feelings very well and because of it, he closes himself off. I mean, it's an effort for me sometimes, and we can read each other like a book."

Lizzie gulped, thinking Gigi's words over. Obviously she had watched every single video, and she clearly had a lot to say. It was best to listen and absorb. To argue would be rude, and make the encounter even more awkward than it was now. So she carefully walked over to where Gigi was standing, and as she got closer, she was surprised to see that the photographs were in fact landscape pictures of Pemberly, of his house—which seemed to be just as big as Pemberly—and weirdly, there were a few that she recognised as being Netherfield, or at least near Netherfield. The portraits were even more revealing. There was one of Bing and Caroline hugging, one of Darcy himself and finally, one of Gigi, smiling up at the camera. The portrait of Gigi was strange, as even though it was like any other photo (only displaying the head and torso), a pair of arms were wrapped tightly around Gigi's waist, and just visible was a chin resting atop of Gigi's head. Lizzie frowned, examining it. It couldn't be Darcy—he already had his own portrait. Though maybe a portrait of him and Gigi had been taken but he hadn't approved of how he'd looked? That certainly fit his MO of vanity and pride.

"My brother's quite the photographer isn't he?" Gigi mused, and she pointed to the portrait of him. It had clearly been taken on a night out. He was sipping from a glass, and the way he was looking up at the camera (eyebrow raised in annoyance but a dutiful smile on his face anyway) indicated that his attitude towards the person taking the photo was that of someone who really didn't want their photo taken, but had tolerated being snapped anyway.

"Did you take that one?" Lizzie asked.

Gigi nodded.

"Yep. These were all taken on Bing's birthday a few years back. Will was the appointed photographer but I managed to get one of him anyway."

Lizzie couldn't help smiling. The way Gigi talked about Darcy made him seem like a totally different person. But the identity of Gigi's companion still nagged at her. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, she pointed to the photograph.

"Is that your brother with you?"

Gigi glanced where Lizzie was pointing, and her expression immediately darkened. It didn't have to take a genius to work out that whoever it was had hurt her bad, and right now, she was trying not to cry. Lizzie decided to retract her question.

"Hey, it's fine. You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's fine. Let's just say, the guy's a fan of noble gestures."

The hint took a little time to fix itself into place, but when it did, Lizzie's heart sank. It was George. Again she remembered the letter, and her fury at George (and her hatred for him) tripled, along with her sympathy for Gigi.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured, knowing that saying anything else would be useless. Gigi shrugged.

"It's a long time ago. Plus, I have my brother. Should be grateful for that." Although Gigi was clearly referring to herself, Lizzie couldn't help but feel that her final comment had been a tiny dig at her. It was understandable, considering how many times she had insulted Darcy in her videos. If the shoe had been on the other foot and someone had aimed that many insults at either Jane or Lydia, her anger would be of galactic proportions. She attempted a small smile at Gigi, suddenly aware of the silence between them.

"Not all guys are rotten apples you know," Lizzie started, but Gigi shook her head.

" I've heard it all from my brother. Thanks, though," she added, smiling. Lizzie nodded, looking back at the photographs, her gaze falling on the picture of Darcy. Another long moment followed, until Gigi finally broke the silence with a heavy sigh.

"Well, this was fun!"

Lizzie let out a small laugh.

"Yeah… sorry about the videos, again."

"Don't worry about it. You're often funny, and unlike my brother, I laughed at you calling him a newsie. I always told him he wouldn't be able to pull off that hat."

"And he still insisted on buying it?"

"Convinced himself he looked dapper in it. One of the many things he's been wrong about in his lifetime, let me tell you."

Lizzie laughed again, though a brighter laugh this time. After a second, she joined in and soon the two of them were laughing together, their laughter filling the whole room.

The only time they stopped was when the door again swung open. Both Gigi and Lizzie jumped, and turned to see the new visitor. This new visitor was very strange-looking, in Gigi's opinion at least. She was wearing a bright orange sun hat, a red-and-white gingham dress with a white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Clearly, she'd dressed up for her day out.

"Lizzie! My baby!"

Lizzie's heart dropped, and her brain froze. All that came out of her mouth was:

"Mom?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Never in her life had Lizzie feared her mother more. Mrs Bennet on the other hand, was perfectly at ease with the situation in hand. Until she spotted the camera. It was at this point that her broad grin fell into a dark scowl.

"Lizzie my dear, what are you doing?" she asked, in her familiar Southern twang.

Lizzie gulped. Gigi wisely departed the room, saying that she would go and search for her brother elsewhere. A short pause of unbearable silence fell on them, and Lizzie spoke.

"I can explain."

"Then get to it," Mrs Bennet said coolly. Lizzie nodded and stepped forward, towards the centre of the room. With every step, her mother's glare darkened.

"Okay, so…" Lizzie started, an explanation forming in her head. "A few months ago, Professor Gardiner told us to start our final project, and… well, me and Charlotte… we decided to start a video blog on YouTube."

"Oh. What about?"

"Me. My life."

It only took a raised eyebrow from Mrs Bennet for everything else to come spilling out. Lizzie knew that she would be dead at the end of it, but after holding onto this secret for so long, it just all came out in one long flowing river of words.

The whole confession took fifteen minutes. For the majority of those fifteen minutes, Mrs Bennet had had a look of shock on her face. The rest of the time she looked furious.

"And then I came here, and I… well, yeah. That's it," Lizzie finished, not daring to even take a peek at her mother's face. She was too scared of the results if she did. Her nerves only deepened as the silence between her and her mother became longer and longer.

"Can I see them?"

Lizzie's head snapped up, and it was her turn to look shocked. Her mother wanted to see them?! That was not a reaction she expected. But then, did she really want her mother to see what had happened? All of the re-enactments, Jane's breakdown at Bing's departure? What she had said about her own family? Then she remembered The Video. _Are You Kidding Me?_ was what she had called it, and thinking back, she may have accidentally predicted her mother's reaction to said video.

"Lizzie, I asked you a question? Can I see them?"

That was when Lizzie realised that she hadn't spoken for over five minutes. Carefully, she closed her eyes and breathed out, preparing herself for the barrage of words which would come rushing at her if she allowed her mother to see the videos. But if she didn't Yes, she wouldn't get yelled at, but the knowledge of the fact that she when she did come home, her mother would no longer be under the illusion that she spent all of her time up in her bedroom just studying. What kind of effect would that have on their relationship? It would make it infinitely more strained, and any sort of closeness that they shared would be… gone. Just gone. Plus, after her mother found out, then she'd have to tell her dad. That was the worst thing. However, maybe it would be best to just get it over and done with. After all, arranging your own execution is much better than having someone else do it for you.

"Sure," she said quietly, getting up and moving to the Mac. "I'll just set it up for you."

Mrs Bennet nodded and watched as Lizzie fired up the Mac, opened up a web page and with a clear look of dread on her face, clicked on the very first video, _My Name is Lizzie Bennet_, which now seemed a long time ago for Lizzie. Mrs Bennet then rose to her chair and moved towards the computer, watching her daughter chatter away. As usual, she was bright, fun and a _little_ extreme in her portrayals of other people. Lizzie stood to the side of her mother, nervously rocking back and forth on her heels and biting her nails. The video finally faded out. Mrs Bennet said nothing, just clicked on the second video, _My Sisters: Problematic to Practically Perfect_. Lizzie sighed nervously.

"Look, Mom, I didn't…"

"Lizzie, dear. I could do with a cup of tea." Her tone was eerily calm, and after many years living in the Bennet household, Lizzie knew that to leave would be best. Also, finding the canteen would provide her with a brief respite from her mother's silence. Never before had silence been so suffocating. All through making these videos, she had complained about her mother's infinite capacity for loudly broadcasting her opinions, and now here she was, struggling to get a single sound to pass from her mother's lips. Ironically, it was kind of deafening.


End file.
